At the end of Armageddon, Christ who has the Keys of Hell and Death, will arrest Satan and bind him with a great chain of circumstance, after which he shall be locked up in Hell during the Kingdom Age and will have no influence upon the nations and peoples of the earth during that time (Revelation 20:1-3). Satan will be under house arrest, the door of his home securely locked, so that he will not be able to travel between dimensions or worlds as he so readily did beforehand.
Whilst Satan is chained or rendered powerless whilst contained in the prison of his own home, the nations of the earth shall cease from war (Micah 4:3) and enjoy a peaceful co-existence. The earth at that time shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD (Habakkuk 2:14), for the influence of evil will not be present to corrupt the hearts and minds of man. When the thousand-year Kingdom Age draws to an end, Satan will be unchained and released from prison for a little season (Revelation 20:3). How long the season is, we do not know, but it could be months or years.
After seeing the binding of Satan, John then looked into Heaven and saw the saints of God that were martyred during the seven church ages, and which boldly stood for their faith despite the opposition they faced (Revelation 20:4). As John saw Jewish souls under the altar when the fifth seal was opened (Revelation 6:9-11), so here John is seeing the souls of people. Many of those whom he saw had been killed by beheading, and although the soul lost its body, and the body was lost by way of decapitation, yet their souls will be reunited with their bodies in order to rule and reign with Christ during the Kingdom Age.
And how will the soul and body be rejoined again? By way of the first resurrection (Revelation 20:5)! The first resurrection is that of the sleeping New Testament saints, whose theophanies shall come back to the earth and pick up their flesh bodies; then together with the living saints, we shall all be caught up together to meet Christ in His corporal body for the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). But for all those who have died since the dawn of time, and were not numbered among the saints of God, they shall not be resurrected until after the Millennium. Their resurrection will be unto judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), whereas the saints’ resurrection is unto rulership. Such a security we have to be part of the Bride of Christ! For if we go to the grave, yet we have a blessed assurance that we shall rise again and be part of the resurrection of the saints (Revelation 20:6). We shall never taste of the second death (Revelation 20:14-15). Unlike billions of others whose souls shall perish in the Lake of Fire, our souls are eternally secure and our future is sure.
After the Millennium, Satan will be loosed out of prison for a little season (Revelation 20:3, Revelation 20:7). Upon being set free, he shall go forth and deceive the nations of peoples that have populated the earth during the Kingdom Age, and gather them together to make war against Christ, the Bride and the City of Jerusalem (Revelation 20:9). History will end as it began. It started with the human race (Adam and Eve) living in a perfect society but rebelling against their Creator, and it will end with the human race living in a perfect society during the Kingdom Age, but rebelling against the Creator when Satan is loosed out of prison.
The gathering of the nations of the earth to battle is called Gog and Magog. The Battle of Gog and Magog occurs twice in the Bible. Its first occurrence is before the Millennium when Russia and its armies invade Israel during the Tribulation according to Ezekiel chapter 38 and Ezekiel chapter 39. Its second occurrence is after the Millennium when Satan is loosed to deceive the nations and gather them against Christ, His Bride, and the city of Jerusalem. The two invasions are thus separated by a thousand years. The battle prophesied by Ezekiel is preceded by the restoration of Israel (Ezekiel chapter 37) and is followed by a description of the Millennium (Ezekiel chapter 40 to Ezekiel chapter 48), whereas the battle prophesied in Revelation chapter 20 is preceded by the Millennium and is followed by a description of the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation chapter 21 and Revelation chapter 22).
Satan’s gathering the nations to rebel against the authority of Christ will be dealt with swiftly and severely. A supernatural fire will fall from Heaven to burn-up the rebels (Revelation 20:9), even as God destroyed Nadab and Abihu by fire (Leviticus 10:1-2). The leader of the rebellion (Satan) shall be immediately cast into the Lake of Fire where the Beast and false prophet have been languishing in torment for a thousand years already (Revelation 19:20)! And what shall the saints say when they look upon the Devil who has accused them and been an adversary against them since the dawn of time? Their words are recorded in Isaiah 14:16-17: They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
It is after Satan’s final rebellion and his being cast into the Lake of Fire that the planet and its atmosphere are completely annihilated, in order to be made anew for the Eternal State that follows. The earth and the heaven fleeing away from the face of God (Revelation 20:11) is the language used by John to describe the burning-up of the earth (2 Peter 3:10-12). The second resurrection takes place just before the earth is burned-up, because the sea must give up its dead (Revelation 20:13). The people are being resurrected back into the bodies they had when they died, and no matter what became of their bodies in this life (burned, lost at sea, blown-up etcetera), God still knows where every atom of their being is, and will join those atoms back into a body, inside which the soul shall be wrapped-up again.
All who are not numbered among the saints of God will be resurrected at that time, and will be judged in the bodies which they formerly lived in on the earth. As already mentioned, whereas the first resurrection (of the sleeping saints) is unto rulership, the second resurrection (of the saved and unsaved) is unto judgment. There has to be a second resurrection before there can be a second death. Unlike the first death where the body is destroyed but not the soul, at the second death, the soul will be destroyed in the Lake of Fire.
The Great White Throne of Judgment is when the saints shall stand with Christ to judge the world (1 Corinthians 6:1-3). Let us take a moment to examine the Book of Life which shall be opened at that time. The prophet of God speaks at length about the Book of Life in a written work entitled “An exposition of the seven church ages,” and also addressed the subject in the message, “The invisible union of the Bride of Christ” (November 25, 1965). In these we learn a great deal about what the Book of Life actually is, and we also learn that it has a special section known as the Lamb’s section of the Book. The Book itself represents the mind and thoughts of God, for any written work is the expressed thoughts of its author. This great Book is also described as being in Heaven (Luke 10:20; Hebrews 12:23) because Its Author is the one who is seated upon Heaven’s Throne.
The Book contains a record of names, but not in the sense of a big long list of names as found in a telephone directory. Rather, it has everything to do with where people stand in the sight of God. To better grasp this concept, when we consider the Bible, it is actually the mind and thoughts of God in printed form, but yet one will not read of their actual name in its holy text; instead, we read our names and see our position in the economy of God by identifying ourselves with the experiences of the men and women written of in its pages.
The Book of Life is not only a symbolic reference to the mind of God, but in another sense is a record of our life in the flesh and of our old nature. For example, when we read of the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, we learn about the book of life ancestry of Joseph and Mary; but when we get to the gospel of John, we read of Jesus’ Lamb’s Book of Life ancestry which is recorded thus: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. So in Adam is a record of our natural life, our book of life ancestry all the way back to the beginning; but in Jesus is a record of our spiritual descent, that we were an eternal attribute in the mind of Elohim, and that our theophany rotated out of the Pillar of Fire (Jesus/Melchizedek).
The stories of Ruth, Esther, and Job are self-explanatorily called “The Book of Ruth,” “The Book of Esther,” “The Book of Job” etcetera, because they are a record of their natural lives. When the books (plural) are opened at the Great White Throne of Judgment (Daniel 7:10; Revelation 20:12), it is the records of people’s natural lives that are being unraveled for all to see; thus the prophet would tell us that history and every secret will be shouted from the housetops at that time.
Although God knows all things, yet we learn that not every person has their name written of in the Book of His thoughts. Now what exactly does this mean? To establish this point, we will look at what God said of Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16: And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. Again, we will look at what Paul wrote in Romans 9:22: What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: Here we learn that there are individuals (reprobates) who are put on the earth for no other purpose than to be an unwitting instrument in the hands of God to fulfil certain scriptures, after which they are cast into Hell, and later will be cast into the Lake of Fire.
People such as Cain, Pharaoh, Hitler, and billions of others throughout history never had their names written in the Book of Life, for they had hearts that could not respect nor show consideration toward God, His Word, and His people, and were therefore void of any chance of salvation and eternal life even when such opportunities were presented before them. So although they are known of God (for He is omniscient, knowing all things), yet their names are not on the Book of Life, for their lives were never destined to show any form of positive response to things of eternal value.
Then there are those whose names were on the Book of Life, but their names were later struck off the Book as a consequence of their failing to continue on in the Truth. The children of Israel in the wilderness journey from Egypt to the Promised Land are a classic example of this. They were halfway, borderline believers following the prophet Moses, but then doubted and turned against God and His prophet, resulting in them dying in the wilderness, and their names being struck off the Book. Judas Iscariot is another example of a man who was justified and sanctified, but he did not receive the Spirit baptism, and instead betrayed the Word made flesh for a few pieces of silver.
This group of people is as large as those whose names were never on the Book to begin with. They had a heart that could recognize truth and reality, but they lacked the inner substance to walk in it or at least show a sincere respect toward it. It is these people who at the Great White Throne of Judgment will discover that their names have since been struck off the Book, for they had a chance of salvation, but for the sake of worldly interests, chose to forsake the glorious opportunity that was presented to them. These people too will be cast into the Lake of Fire. It is these people along with the reprobates that will hear those fateful words: “Depart from me ye that work iniquity, I never knew you!” (Matthew 7:23).
Those whose names remain on the Book of Life and will have eternal life are the countless numbers of children that have been aborted, as well as children who died before the age of accountability. The 144,000 Jews (having been called and sealed under the ministry of the two Jewish prophets) are not of the Bride group, but will be attendants to the Bride in the Millennium and in the restored earth, sitting not in the Throne, but before the Throne, hence their names are on the Book too. The foolish virgins and the fifth seal Jews will also receive eternal life, and those who showed respect to the Bride and did good to Her will receive it also. Then there are those who will not bow down to the edicts of the Beast that will be granted eternal life. There are many God-fearing Christians who are of this group. They love the Lord Jesus with all their hearts and serve Him to the best of their understanding, but they were never chosen to be a part of God’s Bride, yet their meritorious service for Christ and faithfulness to Him will earn them a special place in Glory.
As we have already seen, those whose names are on the Book of Life can potentially have their names struck off It, but those whose names are on the Lamb’s section of the Book cannot under any circumstances have their names removed. The only people who have their names recorded in the Lamb’s section of the Book of Life are God’s sons and daughters… His Bride. It is because She is a part of Him and was foreordained to the new birth and adoption. The Bride is having Her name called now from the Book of the Great Shepherd in Revelation chapter 10, where the Mighty Angel descends from Heaven with an open Book in His hand. From this we learn that Revelation chapter 10 is the names in the Lamb’s section of the Book of Life being called before the first resurrection, whilst Revelation chapter 20 is the names in the Book of Life being called at the Great White Throne of Judgment after the second resurrection.
All whose names are not found written in the Book of Life at the Judgment will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15). Death and Hell will also be cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:14) because they have become personified in the last days according to Revelation 6:8. Death claims the material portion (the flesh body) of a person whilst Hell claims the immaterial portion of a person (the soul). The Lake of Fire will supersede Hell, and once Hell has given up its dead for the Judgment, then it and Death will no longer be needed, and because they have become personified, they too shall be cast into the Lake of Fire and destroyed.
Go to Revelation Chapter 21